Any interesting ways to advertise for free

[Phoenix Driving]

Hi all,

My wife and I have started a Driving school in Cirencester and Cheltenham called Phoenix driving and as a new business we are trying to think of ways to advertise for free.

We have wrote a few articles, got local press interest, delivered leaflets, put cards in shops,and takeaways.

Any other ideas ?

Thanks everyone

 

[UKSBD]

Find out where 17 year olds hang out during the day and make sure you have to drive past it a few times as part of your route.

Assuming you have your name and number splashed on your cars.

 

[WirralPrinters]

Hi all,

My wife and I have started a Driving school in Cirencester and Cheltenham called Phoenix driving and as a new business we are trying to think of ways to advertise for free.

We have wrote a few articles, got local press interest, delivered leaflets, put cards in shops,and takeaways.

Any other ideas ?

Thanks everyone

One of my current and ongoing projects (directory) is for driving schools! (still in development stage).

I would check out any free listing directories that you can advertise in for your target audience.

Also check out 'gumtree'

Local papers will normally allow you to add free articles for new businesses (normally in return of advertising space later on though).

Get your own vehicles to promote your business with advertising print on your vehicles.

Local paper adverts each week....

 

[GreatSEO]

Well FREE is not free if using petrol etc etc which will all come at a small cost but it depends on what you are looking for. A few ideas to get you started -

Local Parish Magazine (Yes I know it is unheard of which is why it is good) It is also very cheap.

Tesco Notice Board, Newsagents cork boards, local takeaways will often let you leave cards.

There will always be local businesses that support local businesses so networking with local business will be beneficial.

The local college is a great idea but it is how you approach it. 1 way would be to leave flyers offering half price first lesson in the student bars and other obvious places.

Some simple but effective ideas I hope

Dave

 

[mountrecruitment]

run a competition with free lessons as the prize then promote it as much as possible - methods mentioned above. Make it by email or post and get some contact details etc. You now have list of potential clients.

 

[OpenSure]

I like UKSBD's idea. We have a 17 yo and an 18 yo learning to drive, and word-of-mouth and incentives are how they've found their instructors, but it's a small market out where we live. Advertise through the VIth forms, young farmers (can you tell we live in the country?!), petrol stations, even see if there would be opportunities to do a presentation to groups of young people through youth clubs or similar outfits. You could try appealing to the parents too, or even run some free 'safe driving tips' workshops and offer one free lesson if they sign up for 10 or something. If you give the kids or their parents (or ideally both!) confidence in you then you're away. Running the free events will provide you not only with a room full of potential customers, but some useful market research too.

 

[dedwardp]

My idea would be to meet up with the local college and try to agree a deal to become their 'official driving school' or something similar; all of their students get 10% discount upon displaying their college ID card or so on so the college can promote as their goodwill for students whilst you ought to get stacks of work for it.

Through the partnership you can have flyers and cards displayed around the college or reminders of you in the weekly bulletins and so on, then every September another group of 16/17 year olds turn up and you get a replenishing audience.

 

[JPBF]

Hi!

Facebook, twitter, and youtube are good for free advertiseing.

Thank god SOMEBODY mentioned Social Networking sites!! You've opened up a driving school, print out some leaflets and give them to the local high schools advertising your driving schools facebook page. This will drum up alot of business! Always remember your target age group.

 

[JPBF]

Hi!

Facebook, twitter, and youtube are good for free advertiseing.

Thank god SOMEBODY mentioned Social Networking sites!! You've opened up a driving school, print out some leaflets and give them to the local high schools advertising your driving schools facebook page. This will drum up alot of business! Always remember your target age group.

 

[dan_ibdm]

You can also have a look at sites such as Find It In Worcestershire as these are completely free to use. I know it's just 'over the border' from Gloucestershire but it would be a good place to have a look and there may be a similar site to this nearer to you.

Agree that social media sites will also drum up lots of business if done correctly.

Dan

 

[gatekeeperuk]

Yes... you can always find a number of free local classifieds with high traffic. If you post your ads in those classifieds, there is high chance to get some business

 

[gemd89]

My partner is currently learning to drive and we went with 20 lessons for £180, there was also other offers like first lesson free £56 for 5 lessons. Why not make a page on facebook - surely there will be alot of 16/17 year olds on facebook that would like your page and maybe book lessons with you - then you can post offers on there and interact with people - post some useful driving facts and information to help people pass their theory and other test.

Happy to help you with a page if you havent got one

Gemma

 

[5wire]

Any local colleges which you could go hand out leaflets to?

IMO (as a student), students pay per lesson rather than for a week of driving intensity unless you can establish the cost effectiveness and difference. There are also universities your way so you can always offer sessions during half terms, maybe some sort of discount over set weeks when students are offer.

I'm at university, and very social to say the least. I don't know anybody who has done an intensive course, just weekly (once or twice) lessons if that is any help.

James

 

[BowlerHat]

Yes, the social networking sites are fantastic for your target age group. If you're not good on computers you may have a whizz-kid in your family that wants to earn a bit of pocket money to set up your Facebook.

Trying to park your car near the local college if you're in town for lunch wouldn't go a miss either, find out where they all eat lunch and drop in a poster or leaflet or something

I know you said you wanted free advertising but I would speak to the local college to see how much a small ad in their sixth-form prospectus would be. It might be cheaper than you expect and would go straight into the hands of your target market.

Good luck!

 

[Avon Rep]

Promote your business for free in local magazines, newspapers, community newsletters, etc. Many rely on voluntary writing contributions.

 

[Bucket Monkeys]

You could try the free basic membership on: bucketmonkeys.co.uk

 

[Zenicman]

When I was looking for driving lessons the thing I wanted to learn in was a “cool” car sop to speak rather than say a small corsa something more sporty. I found someone who gave lessons in a ml5 fiesta zetec s and other sporty cars.
Try and target something different with so many people around doing driving now you need a USP

 

[Mark Walters]

Set-up a free website using Blogger or Wordpress and post articles related to learning to drive. Include references to the town where you're operating in some of the articles and you should show up in Google when people search for information about driving lessons in your town.

 

[Alan]

Take a look at our local driving school, http://www.catdriving.co.uk/ the car is the biggest advert, its just noticable as it drives around, followed by all teh other stuff i.e. good website ( not one of our though so it has faults facebook page etc.

 

[quikshop]

Students are ALWAYS short of money... offer 10% finders fee for mates referrals whether they've learned to drive with you or not

 

[#ServicedOffices]

I agree with affiliate/finder fees as will bring you a lot of word of mouth promotions and recommendations.

Sometimes I think it pays to get down The Strand or whatever with a massive advertising board and get in the background of a live TV news broadcast. Or stick a big advert on the side of the van and stop just behind them (probably need a portable TV to get perfect accuracy)... the cars beeping away behind with get viewers attention (and likely the journalist too). Never tried it but its on my list of things to do.

As for a driving school, courier etc. where you have advertising on the side of your vehicle... use that!

 

[Thermodynamic Man]

My partner is currently learning to drive and we went with 20 lessons for £180,
Gemma

20 Lessons for £180? Good God. I am not surprised you snapped that up. How the hell is this guy making a living after covering his overheads?

 

[AllUpHere]

20 Lessons for £180? Good God. I am not surprised you snapped that up. How the hell is this guy making a living after covering his overheads?

It was years ago. This is a very old thread that's been dug up. Still too cheap though isn't it.

 

[Thermodynamic Man]

Too right it was. But you're right...note to self...look at dates of posts

 

[colour24]

Hi, you will find many of your future clients are local gym members. The gyms will be keen for you to offer a discount to their members.

 

[TLMartin]

You mentioned getting press releases, how does that work? how do you get yourself to be commented on by the newspaper?

 

[jamie1867]

Try moving away from leaflets too - try inbound text on the car's and in adverts - TEXT HELP DRIVE to 12345 (short number) this way you will capture the number of the interested student, and you can call them back, or market to them over again.

 

[Andre1981]

The £180 deal for driving is a con, I know people who had the 20 lessons and were still not confident to drive down a quiet road.
They spend as much time talking over those hours to save on petrol,mainly talking about how you should be spending more money to improve your driving ability.
Not always but a lot of the time these people are not far out of driving school so they see this a learning process themself, AVOID!

 

[Virtual Reality Hire]

As a few have mentioned, for free advertising, social media would be the first place I'd go. Go onto local sales/news/info pages as there are plenty of these in each area and post a picture of your car and contact details and it can be a sure fire way to generate interest. Just try not to spam and only add it onto pages which may be relevant.
You could even start your own page and invite friends and family to like it and then grow it from there.

 

[beasty]

Hi all,

My wife and I have started a Driving school in Cirencester and Cheltenham called Phoenix driving and as a new business we are trying to think of ways to advertise for free.

We have wrote a few articles, got local press interest, delivered leaflets, put cards in shops,and takeaways.

Any other ideas ?

Thanks everyone

Walk naked down the highstreet with writing on your body saying

This would be a lot less embarrassing if i was in a car, you may optionally strategically place a couple of L plates *preserve your dignity and pass you off as a bride or groom on a stag do!

LEARN TO DRIVE WITH
XXX XXX XXX

Problem solved

 

[Tomas123123]

I would suggest a referral system where your current students get a discounted lesson if they refer a friend and the friend also receives a discount.

Your current students know your target market personally and everyone like to get something off.

 

[jamesbaldock]

It may be worth talking to your local sixth forms / colleges and offering a driving experience day.

My old school used to do this and it allowed people to get behind the wheel on the school playground just in time for them to start learning to drive and of course, it would put your driving school at the top of their mental list.

Also posting regularly in local Facebook groups.

As someone else mentioned, a blog on your web site will really help, too.

If you need any decent priced SEO, please get in touch.

 

[Mr D]

Hopefully in over 6 years the OP has figured it out.

 

[jamesbaldock]

Doh! I always use the 'New Posts' button to find posts to reply to. I didn't even think about checking the original posting date.

Hopefully you're right ;0)